Coming out of Chief of Staff Marshall's office, the eagle on John's shoulder had been replaced by a shining star, and there was an extra Medal of Merit for Service on his chest. This type of medal is not too high, between the Cross of Merit for Service and the Silver Star, but it can be awarded to any person who has performed important duties to the government for outstanding service during his service in the Army, and is not limited to combat duty.

As soon as he went out, John couldn't help but touch the medal on his chest with his hand. Compared with the expected general, this "unexpected" service merit medal obviously surprised him more.

When he attended the Atlantic Conference before, John had felt ashamed because he had too few "pay stubs". The other officers also had at least three or four rows of medals on their military uniforms, and only on his chest was a lone Army Service Medal, and it was also a seniority badge, which was not as good as some of the sergeant majors on board.

As for the medal, he was preceded by a Finn knight's Order of the White Rose, 1st class. But now the Finns are on the side of the Germans, sending troops to regain almost all of the territory lost in the Soviet-Finnish war last year. With the Soviet Union, once the "aggressor", now an ally of the Americans, John knew that at least until the end of World War II, the Knight's Order of the White Rose of the First Class would have to lie obediently in the cabinet and accumulate dust.

So when I usually wear regular clothes, I don't feel that as soon as I change into a military uniform, John will immediately expose the prototype of his "recruit egg". Many officers who don't know him are always easy to think of him as a "lucky entry" who went through the back door. Now with this Medal of Merit for Service, John finally has something to decorate the façade.

"What, are you dissatisfied with the feel of the medal?" Seeing that John had been fiddling with the medal on his chest, Ridgway, who was following him, joked with him.

"Makes you laugh, Matthew. This is my first Army Medal. John smiled sheepishly.

"It should. When I got my first bronze star, I was just as excited as you are. Rich smiled and said, "Congratulations, it seems that the upper authorities are very happy with your performance in the White House." ”

John was even more embarrassed to hear this. Although the medal certificate says that he received this medal for his outstanding performance during his time as Army Advisor to the President in the White House. But he knew in his heart that at least half of it was Roosevelt and Marshall's reward for Stimson. With his own "merits" alone, it is estimated that it may not be enough to get a merit medal.

Of course, John didn't think it was that much of a shame. In later generations, when the Oscars were presented every year, there were always some winners who were scolded as shit, thinking that there must be a shady curtain behind it. But scolding and scolding, who will remember how he won the award a few years later. Anyway, they are already Oscar winners, they should be famous, they should increase their salaries, and they should not delay anything. Moreover, this medal of his was given to him by Roosevelt and Marshall on his own initiative, and even if anyone knew the inside story, they would not dare to say that he was unworthy.

"Don't talk about that. What is the situation in the division now? John digressed. While the promotion and the award were exciting, they also marked the end of John's work in the White House. In the future, the burden of the 82nd Division will be on the shoulders of him and Li Qiwei, and it is better to turn his attention to the next work as soon as possible.

"Everything is going according to our plan, and so far it's been pretty good." John hadn't been back to Alexandria for almost a month, and Ridgway naturally had to explain to him the current situation of the 82nd Division. "But as soon as Omar and the others go, we'll have to be busy."

"When did Omar leave?" John asked.

"The day before yesterday, he and Swain walked together, and Matthews (as a training staff officer) will also go over in two days." Li Qiwei said, "This time, the matter of the 28th Division is very noisy, and the above is very urgent. ”

"No, isn't it just that the recruits have written some seditious slogans. Is such a trivial matter worthy of such a big fight? John asked, a little curiously.

Stimson had previously mentioned to him that the 28 recruits had "O-H-I-O" (an abbreviation for October desertion) written on the gate of the divisional headquarters. But John didn't think it was that serious. Because the United States itself is a country that advocates freedom of speech, and those recruits didn't really desert, so what's wrong with writing a few letters on the division department.

Moreover, graffiti has been a representative culture of the American military since World War I. American GIs like to draw wherever they go, and graffiti can be found on planes, vehicles, buildings, helmets, and even artillery shells. Although the army prohibits graffiti on the walls of barracks buildings, it is generally a matter of confinement when it is caught.

"I heard Commander Wald say that the situation is much more serious than what was reported to the outside world. It's not just a matter of recruits, it's the Pennsylvania Yankees (the 28th Division was largely adapted from the Pennsylvania National Guard) who are fighting too fiercely. Ridgie whispered to John, "Their division commander Martin has been busy with the midterm elections and is not very busy, and the people below are divided into several factions and make a lot of trouble. I heard that some officers were plotting a mutiny, saying that they wanted to drive the Philadelphia Gang out of the 28th Division. ”

"Mutiny?" John was frightened by the word, "Are they crazy, this is going to court-martial!" If you don't know it, you'll have to lose your head! ”

It is not an empty phrase that a soldier takes obedience to orders as his duty. In any case, no matter how justified the subordinates are, disobeying the orders of the superiors is absolutely not allowed by the military. John remembers that in "Band of Brothers", the sergeants of Company E simply tried to threaten to replace the commander of Sauber Company with a collective resignation, and were angrily denounced by Zinke as a military rebellion. If it weren't for the imminent Normandy landings, this matter would definitely not have been settled by dealing with a very small number of people.

"So, Commander Wald sent out the gendarmerie to take over the 28th Division, and Omar and they all went overnight." After sighing, Ridgway said to John again, "Commander Wald and Omar have to worry about the affairs of the 28th Division. What we have to do is to ensure that the 82nd Division completes all the training plans by the end of October and successfully passes the assessment of the General Staff. It was already difficult, and with Omar and them gone, many of the original plans were disrupted at once. ”

"Did Omar take a lot of people?" John knew that the training plan for the 82nd Division had been drawn up before he left. If it's just Bradley and Swain leaving, the impact is there, but it's not huge. Ridgway said that the plan was disrupted, so there was only one possibility, Bradley transferred men from the 82nd Division to the 28th Division.

But there is no way around it. If Bradley wants to stabilize the 28th Division, he will inevitably need a group of descendants to help him. Transferring manpower from the 82nd Division is undoubtedly the most direct and effective method. Moreover, many of the officers of the 82nd Division were originally brought out by Bradley from the Fort Benning Infantry School, so Li Qiwei had no way to stop them.

"Omar, it's hard for them too." Li Qi sighed slightly, "He promised me that we would try not to affect our training progress, and that we would draw up to 20 people. ”

"Is the list available?" John asked.

"We're still discussing, but Lieutenant Colonel Matthews has already confirmed that he's going to go, and he was named by Commander Wald himself." Li Qiwei is also very helpless about this, without the chief staff officer in charge of training, the next work will be very troublesome. But Commander Wald apparently thought it was much more important to stabilize the 28th Division than to let the 82nd Division compete for some airborne division reorganization. He can only obey the overall situation and endure the pain of love.

"In other words, at least the three positions of artillery chief, chief of staff, and training staff officer are vacant now, right?"

"There is also the commander of the 503 regiment, Colonel Martin was transferred two weeks ago." Li Qiwei's expression was a little weird, "He was transferred before the accident of the 28th Division, and he was probably going to take over his brother's class." ”

Martin's straw bale is gone, which is good news. John has always believed that Martin, the head of the regiment, is the biggest reason why the training progress of the 503 regiment cannot go up. He left just in time, and John already had a candidate for the head of the 503 regiment in his heart.